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Archbishop Welby’s comment leads to development of African solar project

Posted Nov 1, 2017

[Anglican Communion News Service] A comment made by the archbishop of Canterbury during his visit to the Holy Land in April has resulted in a pioneering green energy project for churches in Africa. During his two-week visit, Archbishop Justin Welby met Rabbi Yonatan Neril, the founder and executive director of the Jerusalem-based NGO, the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development (ICSD). Welby heard about ICSD’s collaborative project with the social enterprise Gigawatt Global (GWG) to deploy solar fields on church lands in Africa. In Rwanda, GWG installed Africa’s first commercial-scale solar field on land belonging to the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village for orphans from the genocide. Welby suggested that Neril contact the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA), which gives a significant priority to environmental action.